NAME

queue_conf - Sun Grid Engine queue configuration file format

DESCRIPTION

This manual page describes the format of the template file for the
cluster queue configuration. Via the -aq and -mq options of the
qconf(1) command, you can add cluster queues and modify the
configuration of any queue in the cluster. Any of these change
operations can be rejected, as a result of a failed integrity
verification.
The queue configuration parameters take as values strings, integer
decimal numbers or boolean, time and memory specifiers (see
time_specifier and memory_specifier in sge_types(5)) as well as comma
separated lists.
Note, Sun Grid Engine allows backslashes (\) be used to escape newline
(\newline) characters. The backslash and the newline are replaced with
a space (" ") character before any interpretation.

FORMAT

The following list of parameters specifies the queue configuration file
content:
qname
The name of the cluster queue as defined for queue_name in
sge_types(1). As template default "template" is used.
hostlist
A list of host identifiers as defined for host_identifier in
sge_types(1). For each host Sun Grid Engine maintains a queue instance
for running jobs on that particular host. Large amounts of hosts can
easily be managed by using host groups rather than by single host
names. As list separators white-spaces and "," can be used. (template
default: NONE).
If more than one host is specified it can be desirable to specify
divergences with the further below parameter settings for certain
hosts. These divergences can be expressed using the enhanced queue
configuration specifier syntax. This syntax builds upon the regular
parameter specifier syntax separately for each parameter:
"["host_identifier=<parameters_specifier_syntax>"]"
[,"["host_identifier=<parameters_specifier_syntax>"]" ]
note, even in the enhanced queue configuration specifier syntax an
entry without brackets denoting the default setting is required and
used for all queue instances where no divergences are specified.
Tuples with a host group host_identifier override the default setting.
Tuples with a host name host_identifier override both the default and
the host group setting.
Note that also with the enhanced queue configuration specifier syntax a
default setting is always needed for each configuration attribute;
otherwise the queue configuration gets rejected. Ambiguous queue
configurations with more than one attribute setting for a particular
host are rejected. Configurations containing override values for hosts
not enlisted under ’hostname’ are accepted but are indicated by -sds of
qconf(1). The cluster queue should contain an unambiguous
specification for each configuration attribute of each queue instance
specified under hostname in the queue configuration. Ambiguous
configurations with more than one attribute setting resulting from
overlapping host groups are indicated by -explainc of qstat(1) and
cause the queue instance with ambiguous configurations to enter the
c(onfiguration ambiguous) state.
seq_no
In conjunction with the hosts load situation at a time this parameter
specifies this queue’s position in the scheduling order within the
suitable queues for a job to be dispatched under consideration of the
queue_sort_method (see sched_conf(5) ).
Regardless of the queue_sort_method setting, qstat(1) reports queue
information in the order defined by the value of the seq_no. Set this
parameter to a monotonically increasing sequence. (type number;
template default: 0).
load_thresholdsload_thresholds is a list of load thresholds. Already if one of the
thresholds is exceeded no further jobs will be scheduled to the queues
and qmon(1) will signal an overload condition for this node. Arbitrary
load values being defined in the "host" and "global" complexes (see
complex(5) for details) can be used.
The syntax is that of a comma separated list with each list element
consisting of the complex_name (see sge_types(5)) of a load value, an
equal sign and the threshold value being intended to trigger the
overload situation (e.g. load_avg=1.75,users_logged_in=5).
Note: Load values as well as consumable resources may be scaled
differently for different hosts if specified in the corresponding
execution host definitions (refer to host_conf(5) for more
information). Load thresholds are compared against the scaled load and
consumable values.
suspend_thresholds
A list of load thresholds with the same semantics as that of the
load_thresholds parameter (see above) except that exceeding one of the
denoted thresholds initiates suspension of one of multiple jobs in the
queue. See the nsuspend parameter below for details on the number of
jobs which are suspended. There is an important relationship between
the uspend_threshold and the cheduler_interval. If you have for example
a suspend threshold on the np_load_avg, and the load exceeds the
threshold, this does not have immediate effect. Jobs continue running
until the next scheduling run, where the scheduler detects the
threshold has been exceeded and sends an order to qmaster to suspend
the job. The same applies for unsuspending.
nsuspend
The number of jobs which are suspended/enabled per time interval if at
least one of the load thresholds in the suspend_thresholds list is
exceeded or if no suspend_threshold is violated anymore respectively.
Nsuspend jobs are suspended in each time interval until no
suspend_thresholds are exceeded anymore or all jobs in the queue are
suspended. Jobs are enabled in the corresponding way if the
suspend_thresholds are no longer exceeded. The time interval in which
the suspensions of the jobs occur is defined in suspend_interval below.
suspend_interval
The time interval in which further nsuspend jobs are suspended if one
of the suspend_thresholds (see above for both) is exceeded by the
current load on the host on which the queue is located. The time
interval is also used when enabling the jobs. The syntax is that of a
time_specifier in sge_types(5).
priority
The priority parameter specifies the nice(2) value at which jobs in
this queue will be run. The type is number and the default is zero
(which means no nice value is set explicitly). Negative values (up to
-20) correspond to a higher scheduling priority, positive values (up to
+20) correspond to a lower scheduling priority.
Note, the value of priority has no effect, if Sun Grid Engine adjusts
priorities dynamically to implement ticket-based entitlement policy
goals. Dynamic priority adjustment is switched off by default due to
sge_conf(5) reprioritize being set to false.
min_cpu_interval
The time between two automatic checkpoints in case of transparently
checkpointing jobs. The maximum of the time requested by the user via
qsub(1) and the time defined by the queue configuration is used as
checkpoint interval. Since checkpoint files may be considerably large
and thus writing them to the file system may become expensive, users
and administrators are advised to choose sufficiently large time
intervals. min_cpu_interval is of type time and the default is 5
minutes (which usually is suitable for test purposes only). The syntax
is that of a time_specifier in sge_types(5).
processors
A set of processors in case of a multiprocessor execution host can be
defined to which the jobs executing in this queue are bound. The value
type of this parameter is a range description like that of the -pe
option of qsub(1) (e.g. 1-4,8,10) denoting the processor numbers for
the processor group to be used. Obviously the interpretation of these
values relies on operating system specifics and is thus performed
inside sge_execd(8) running on the queue host. Therefore, the parsing
of the parameter has to be provided by the execution daemon and the
parameter is only passed through sge_qmaster(8) as a string.
Currently, support is only provided for multiprocessor machines running
Solaris, SGI multiprocessor machines running IRIX 6.2 and Digital UNIX
multiprocessor machines. In the case of Solaris the processor set must
already exist, when this processors parameter is configured. So the
processor set has to be created manually. In the case of Digital UNIX
only one job per processor set is allowed to execute at the same time,
i.e. slots (see above) should be set to 1 for this queue.
qtype
The type of queue. Currently batch,interactive or a combination in a
comma separated list or NONE.
The formerly supported types parallel and checkpointing are not allowed
anymore. A queue instance is implicitly of type parallel/checkpointing
if there is a parallel environment or a checkpointing interface
specified for this queue instance in pe_list/ckpt_list. Formerly
possible settings e.g.
qtype PARALLEL
could be transferred into
qtype NONE
pe_list pe_name
(type string; default: batch interactive).
pe_list
The list of administrator-defined parallel environment (see sge_pe(5))
names to be associated with the queue. The default is NONE.ckpt_list
The list of administrator-defined checkpointing interface names (see
ckpt_name in sge_types(1)) to be associated with the queue. The default
is NONE.rerun
Defines a default behavior for jobs which are aborted by system crashes
or manual "violent" (via kill(1)) shutdown of the complete Sun Grid
Engine system (including the sge_shepherd(8) of the jobs and their
process hierarchy) on the queue host. As soon as sge_execd(8) is
restarted and detects that a job has been aborted for such reasons it
can be restarted if the jobs are restartable. A job may not be
restartable, for example, if it updates databases (first reads then
writes to the same record of a database/file) because the abortion of
the job may have left the database in an inconsistent state. If the
owner of a job wants to overrule the default behavior for the jobs in
the queue the -r option of qsub(1) can be used.
The type of this parameter is boolean, thus either TRUE or FALSE can be
specified. The default is FALSE, i.e. do not restart jobs
automatically.
slots
The maximum number of concurrently executing jobs allowed in the queue.
Type is number, valid values are 0 to 9999999.
tmpdir
The tmpdir parameter specifies the absolute path to the base of the
temporary directory filesystem. When sge_execd(8) launches a job, it
creates a uniquely-named directory in this filesystem for the purpose
of holding scratch files during job execution. At job completion, this
directory and its contents are removed automatically. The environment
variables TMPDIR and TMP are set to the path of each jobs scratch
directory (type string; default: /tmp).
shell
If either posix_compliant or script_from_stdin is specified as the
shell_start_mode parameter in sge_conf(5) the shell parameter specifies
the executable path of the command interpreter (e.g. sh(1) or csh(1))
to be used to process the job scripts executed in the queue. The
definition of shell can be overruled by the job owner via the qsub(1)
-S option.
The type of the parameter is string. The default is /bin/csh.
shell_start_mode
This parameter defines the mechanisms which are used to actually invoke
the job scripts on the execution hosts. The following values are
recognized:
unix_behavior
If a user starts a job shell script under UNIX interactively by
invoking it just with the script name the operating system’s
executable loader uses the information provided in a comment
such as ‘#!/bin/csh’ in the first line of the script to detect
which command interpreter to start to interpret the script. This
mechanism is used by Sun Grid Engine when starting jobs if
unix_behavior is defined as shell_start_mode.
posix_compliant
POSIX does not consider first script line comments such a
‘#!/bin/csh’ as being significant. The POSIX standard for batch
queuing systems (P1003.2d) therefore requires a compliant
queuing system to ignore such lines but to use user specified or
configured default command interpreters instead. Thus, if
shell_start_mode is set to posix_compliant Sun Grid Engine will
either use the command interpreter indicated by the -S option of
the qsub(1) command or the shell parameter of the queue to be
used (see above).
script_from_stdin
Setting the shell_start_mode parameter either to posix_compliant
or unix_behavior requires you to set the umask in use for
sge_execd(8) such that every user has read access to the
active_jobs directory in the spool directory of the
corresponding execution daemon. In case you have prolog and
epilog scripts configured, they also need to be readable by any
user who may execute jobs.
If this violates your site’s security policies you may want to
set shell_start_mode to script_from_stdin. This will force Sun
Grid Engine to open the job script as well as the epilogue and
prologue scripts for reading into STDIN as root (if sge_execd(8)
was started as root) before changing to the job owner’s user
account. The script is then fed into the STDIN stream of the
command interpreter indicated by the -S option of the qsub(1)
command or the shell parameter of the queue to be used (see
above).
Thus setting shell_start_mode to script_from_stdin also implies
posix_compliant behavior. Note, however, that feeding scripts
into the STDIN stream of a command interpreter may cause trouble
if commands like rsh(1) are invoked inside a job script as they
also process the STDIN stream of the command interpreter. These
problems can usually be resolved by redirecting the STDIN
channel of those commands to come from /dev/null (e.g. rsh host
date < /dev/null). Notealso, that any command-line options
associated with the job are passed to the executing shell. The
shell will only forward them to the job if they are not
recognized as valid shell options.
The default for shell_start_mode is posix_compliant. Note, though,
that the shell_start_mode can only be used for batch jobs submitted by
qsub(1) and can’t be used for interactive jobs submitted by qrsh(1),
qsh(1), qlogin(1).
prolog
The executable path of a shell script that is started before execution
of Sun Grid Engine jobs with the same environment setting as that for
the Sun Grid Engine jobs to be started afterwards. An optional prefix
"user@" specifies the user under which this procedure is to be started.
The procedures standard output and the error output stream are written
to the same file used also for the standard output and error output of
each job. This procedure is intended as a means for the Sun Grid
Engine administrator to automate the execution of general site specific
tasks like the preparation of temporary file systems with the need for
the same context information as the job. This queue configuration entry
overwrites cluster global or execution host specific prolog definitions
(see sge_conf(5)).
The default for prolog is the special value NONE, which prevents from
execution of a prologue script. The special variables for
constituting a command line are the same like in prolog definitions of
the cluster configuration (see sge_conf(5)).
Exit codes for the prolog attribute can be interpreted based on the
following exit values:
0: Success
99: Reschedule job
100: Put job in error state
Anything else: Put queue in error state
epilog
The executable path of a shell script that is started after execution
of Sun Grid Engine jobs with the same environment setting as that for
the Sun Grid Engine jobs that has just completed. An optional prefix
"user@" specifies the user under which this procedure is to be started.
The procedures standard output and the error output stream are written
to the same file used also for the standard output and error output of
each job. This procedure is intended as a means for the Sun Grid Engine
administrator to automate the execution of general site specific tasks
like the cleaning up of temporary file systems with the need for the
same context information as the job. This queue configuration entry
overwrites cluster global or execution host specific epilog definitions
(see sge_conf(5)).
The default for epilog is the special value NONE, which prevents from
execution of a epilogue script. The special variables for
constituting a command line are the same like in prolog definitions of
the cluster configuration (see sge_conf(5)).
Exit codes for the epilog attribute can be interpreted based on the
following exit values:
0: Success
99: Reschedule job
100: Put job in error state
Anything else: Put queue in error state
starter_method
The specified executable path will be used as a job starter facility
responsible for starting batch jobs. The executable path will be
executed instead of the configured shell to start the job. The job
arguments will be passed as arguments to the job starter. The following
environment variables are used to pass information to the job starter
concerning the shell environment which was configured or requested to
start the job.
SGE_STARTER_SHELL_PATH
The name of the requested shell to start the job
SGE_STARTER_SHELL_START_MODE
The configured shell_start_modeSGE_STARTER_USE_LOGIN_SHELL
Set to "true" if the shell is supposed to be used as a login
shell (see login_shells in sge_conf(5))
The starter_method will not be invoked for qsh, qlogin or qrsh acting
as rlogin.
suspend_methodresume_methodterminate_method
These parameters can be used for overwriting the default method used by
Sun Grid Engine for suspension, release of a suspension and for
termination of a job. Per default, the signals SIGSTOP, SIGCONT and
SIGKILL are delivered to the job to perform these actions. However, for
some applications this is not appropriate.
If no executable path is given, Sun Grid Engine takes the specified
parameter entries as the signal to be delivered instead of the default
signal. A signal must be either a positive number or a signal name with
"SIG" as prefix and the signal name as printed by kill-l (e.g.
SIGTERM).
If an executable path is given (it must be an absolutepath starting
with a "/") then this command together with its arguments is started by
Sun Grid Engine to perform the appropriate action. The following
special variables are expanded at runtime and can be used (besides any
other strings which have to be interpreted by the procedures) to
constitute a command line:
$host The name of the host on which the procedure is started.
$job_owner
The user name of the job owner.
$job_id
Sun Grid Engine’s unique job identification number.
$job_name
The name of the job.
$queue The name of the queue.
$job_pid
The pid of the job.
notify
The time waited between delivery of SIGUSR1/SIGUSR2 notification
signals and suspend/kill signals if job was submitted with the qsub(1)
-notify option.
owner_list
The owner_list enlists comma separated the login(1) user names (see
user_name in sge_types(1)) of those users who are authorized to disable
and suspend this queue through qmod(1) (Sun Grid Engine operators and
managers can do this by default). It is customary to set this field for
queues on interactive workstations where the computing resources are
shared between interactive sessions and Sun Grid Engine jobs, allowing
the workstation owner to have priority access. (default: NONE).
user_lists
The user_lists parameter contains a comma separated list of Sun Grid
Engine user access list names as described in access_list(5). Each
user contained in at least one of the enlisted access lists has access
to the queue. If the user_lists parameter is set to NONE (the default)
any user has access being not explicitly excluded via the xuser_lists
parameter described below. If a user is contained both in an access
list enlisted in xuser_lists and user_lists the user is denied access
to the queue.
xuser_lists
The xuser_lists parameter contains a comma separated list of Sun Grid
Engine user access list names as described in access_list(5). Each
user contained in at least one of the enlisted access lists is not
allowed to access the queue. If the xuser_lists parameter is set to
NONE (the default) any user has access. If a user is contained both in
an access list enlisted in xuser_lists and user_lists the user is
denied access to the queue.
projects
The projects parameter contains a comma separated list of Sun Grid
Engine projects (see project(5)) that have access to the queue. Any
project not in this list are denied access to the queue. If set to NONE
(the default), any project has access that is not specifically excluded
via the xprojects parameter described below. If a project is in both
the projects and xprojects parameters, the project is denied access to
the queue.
xprojects
The xprojects parameter contains a comma separated list of Sun Grid
Engine projects (see project(5)) that are denied access to the queue.
If set to NONE (the default), no projects are denied access other than
those denied access based on the projects parameter described above.
If a project is in both the projects and xprojects parameters, the
project is denied access to the queue.
subordinate_list
A list of Sun Grid Engine queue names as defined for queue_name in
sge_types(1). Subordinate relationships are in effect only between
queue instances residing at the same host. The relationship does not
apply and is ignored when jobs are running in queue instances on other
hosts. Queue instances residing on the same host will be suspended
when a specified count of jobs is running in this queue instance. The
list specification is the same as that of the load_thresholds parameter
above, e.g. low_pri_q=5,small_q. The numbers denote the job slots of
the queue that have to be filled in the superordinated queue to trigger
the suspension of the subordinated queue. If no value is assigned a
suspension is triggered if all slots of the queue are filled.
On nodes which host more than one queue, you might wish to accord
better service to certain classes of jobs (e.g., queues that are
dedicated to parallel processing might need priority over low priority
production queues; default: NONE).
complex_valuescomplex_values defines quotas for resource attributes managed via this
queue. The syntax is the same as for load_thresholds (see above). The
quotas are related to the resource consumption of all jobs in a queue
in the case of consumable resources (see complex(5) for details on
consumable resources) or they are interpreted on a per queue slot (see
slots above) basis in the case of non-consumable resources. Consumable
resource attributes are commonly used to manage free memory, free disk
space or available floating software licenses while non-consumable
attributes usually define distinctive characteristics like type of
hardware installed.
For consumable resource attributes an available resource amount is
determined by subtracting the current resource consumption of all
running jobs in the queue from the quota in the complex_values list.
Jobs can only be dispatched to a queue if no resource requests exceed
any corresponding resource availability obtained by this scheme. The
quota definition in the complex_values list is automatically replaced
by the current load value reported for this attribute, if load is
monitored for this resource and if the reported load value is more
stringent than the quota. This effectively avoids oversubscription of
resources.
Note: Load values replacing the quota specifications may have become
more stringent because they have been scaled (see host_conf(5)) and/or
load adjusted (see sched_conf(5)). The -F option of qstat(1) and the
load display in the qmon(1) queue control dialog (activated by clicking
on a queue icon while the "Shift" key is pressed) provide detailed
information on the actual availability of consumable resources and on
the origin of the values taken into account currently.
Notealso: The resource consumption of running jobs (used for the
availability calculation) as well as the resource requests of the jobs
waiting to be dispatched either may be derived from explicit user
requests during job submission (see the -l option to qsub(1)) or from a
"default" value configured for an attribute by the administrator (see
complex(5)). The -r option to qstat(1) can be used for retrieving full
detail on the actual resource requests of all jobs in the system.
For non-consumable resources Sun Grid Engine simply compares the job’s
attribute requests with the corresponding specification in
complex_values taking the relation operator of the complex attribute
definition into account (see complex(5)). If the result of the
comparison is "true", the queue is suitable for the job with respect to
the particular attribute. For parallel jobs each queue slot to be
occupied by a parallel task is meant to provide the same resource
attribute value.
Note: Only numeric complex attributes can be defined as consumable
resources and hence non-numeric attributes are always handled on a per
queue slot basis.
The default value for this parameter is NONE, i.e. no administrator
defined resource attribute quotas are associated with the queue.
calendar
specifies the calendar to be valid for this queue or contains NONE (the
default). A calendar defines the availability of a queue depending on
time of day, week and year. Please refer to calendar_conf(5) for
details on the Sun Grid Engine calendar facility.
Note: Jobs can request queues with a certain calendar model via a "-lc=<cal_name>" option to qsub(1).
initial_state
defines an initial state for the queue either when adding the queue to
the system for the first time or on start-up of the sge_execd(8) on the
host on which the queue resides. Possible values are:
default The queue is enabled when adding the queue or is reset to the
previous status when sge_execd(8) comes up (this corresponds
to the behavior in earlier Sun Grid Engine releases not
supporting initial_state).
enabled The queue is enabled in either case. This is equivalent to a
manual and explicit ’qmod-e’ command (see qmod(1)).
disabled The queue is disable in either case. This is equivalent to a
manual and explicit ’qmod-d’ command (see qmod(1)).

RESOURCELIMITS

The first two resource limit parameters, s_rt and h_rt, are implemented
by Sun Grid Engine. They define the "real time" or also called
"elapsed" or "wall clock" time having passed since the start of the
job. If h_rt is exceeded by a job running in the queue, it is aborted
via the SIGKILL signal (see kill(1)). If s_rt is exceeded, the job is
first "warned" via the SIGUSR1 signal (which can be caught by the job)
and finally aborted after the notification time defined in the queue
configuration parameter notify (see above) has passed. In cases when
s_rt is used in combination with job notification it might be necessary
to configure a signal other than SIGUSR1 using the NOTIFY_KILL and
NOTIFY_SUSP execd_params (see sge_conf(5)) so that the jobs’ signal-
catching mechanism can "differ" the cases and react accordingly.
The resource limit parameters s_cpu and h_cpu are implemented by Sun
Grid Engine as a job limit. They impose a limit on the amount of
combined CPU time consumed by all the processes in the job. If h_cpu
is exceeded by a job running in the queue, it is aborted via a SIGKILL
signal (see kill(1)). If s_cpu is exceeded, the job is sent a SIGXCPU
signal which can be caught by the job. If you wish to allow a job to
be "warned" so it can exit gracefully before it is killed then you
should set the s_cpu limit to a lower value than h_cpu. For parallel
processes, the limit is applied per slot which means that the limit is
multiplied by the number of slots being used by the job before being
applied.
The resource limit parameters s_vmem and h_vmem are implemented by Sun
Grid Engine as a job limit. They impose a limit on the amount of
combined virtual memory consumed by all the processes in the job. If
h_vmem is exceeded by a job running in the queue, it is aborted via a
SIGKILL signal (see kill(1)). If s_vmem is exceeded, the job is sent a
SIGXCPU signal which can be caught by the job. If you wish to allow a
job to be "warned" so it can exit gracefully before it is killed then
you should set the s_vmem limit to a lower value than h_vmem. For
parallel processes, the limit is applied per slot which means that the
limit is multiplied by the number of slots being used by the job before
being applied.
The remaining parameters in the queue configuration template specify
per job soft and hard resource limits as implemented by the
setrlimit(2) system call. See this manual page on your system for more
information. By default, each limit field is set to infinity (which
means RLIM_INFINITY as described in the setrlimit(2) manual page). The
value type for the CPU-time limits s_cpu and h_cpu is time. The value
type for the other limits is memory. Note: Not all systems support
setrlimit(2).
Notealso: s_vmem and h_vmem (virtual memory) are only available on
systems supporting RLIMIT_VMEM (see setrlimit(2) on your operating
system).
The UNICOS operating system supplied by SGI/Cray does not support the
setrlimit(2) system call, using their own resource limit-setting system
call instead. For UNICOS systems only, the following meanings apply:
s_cpu The per-process CPU time limit in seconds.
s_core The per-process maximum core file size in bytes.
s_data The per-process maximum memory limit in bytes.
s_vmem The same as s_data (if both are set the minimum is used).
h_cpu The per-job CPU time limit in seconds.
h_data The per-job maximum memory limit in bytes.
h_vmem The same as h_data (if both are set the minimum is used).
h_fsize The total number of disk blocks that this job can create.